A systematic review of children’s digital funds of knowledge in early childhood education and care: beginning the conversation

Children's ‘funds of knowledge’ (FK) offer a strengths-based approach to recognising how children contribute to the curriculum. Growing up in a postdigital world, young children's lives are enmeshed with digital technologies. Yet the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector remains hesitant to embed digital experiences in play and learning. While the concept of ‘digital fund of knowledge’ (DFK) has been explored in primary and secondary education, it remains underexamined in ECEC. This systematic review of four databases identified seven studies spanning Europe, Australia, the USA, Malta, Sweden and Finland. These highlight challenges including limited educators' understandings of children's DFK, insufficient training to integrate digital technologies into learning experiences, and a lack policy for digital pedagogy. This paper contributes to a novel endeavour to bring children’s DFK into the ECEC sector. It underscores child-centred, contemporary pedagogy and the necessity for both scholarly and policy attention in this area.